Folia Theologica et Canonica 4. 26/18 (2015)
SACRA THEOLOGIA - Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem., A sacramental theology of the family: the unity and harmony of the sacramental order
126 SEBASTIAN WALSHE, O.PRAEM. [of the original truth of marriage] reaches its definitive fullness in the gift of love which the Word of God makes to humanity in assuming a human nature.”4" We can extend St. Thomas’ argument to include the other likenesses by which marriage is an apt sign of the hypostatic union. For example, we can conclude that the communion of life between the divinity and humanity of the Incarnate Word is the cause of the communion of life between married spouses. Why should spouses share a life together and live in communion? Because one of the purposes for which marriage was instituted was to signify the communion between the human and divine life in the Incarnate Word. To the extent that spouses share a more intimate communion, to the same extent is that marriage more able to communicate and reveal the intimate communion between the human and divine natures of Christ. Similarly, the fruitfulness of the hypostatic union is the cause why marriage should be ordained to begetting new life. St. John in his prologue argues that the divine life is communicated to men through the humanity of Christ, as he states in his first Epistle: “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”40 41 That this life is communicated through his human nature is made even more evident in the Eucharistic discourse: “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”42 Marriage was instituted to signify the communication of life by means of the union of the human with the divine. Therefore, the reason why marriage should be ordained to begetting new life is to reveal this aspect of the mystery of the Incarnation. Again, the fact that the hypostatic union is a union between different yet complementary elements: divinity and humanity in which one is giving and active while the other is receptive is signified by the complementary difference between man and woman.43 So again, as a sacrament, the hypostatic union is the cause of why marriage must be between a man and a woman. Finally, the fact that only one divine and one human nature are united in the Incarnation is the cause why only one man and one woman are united in the sacrament of matrimony. The above considerations have focused upon marriage as a sacrament instituted by Christ, but in fact, marriage can be considered both as something natural and as a sacrament instituted by Christ to communicate grace. And insofar 40 Familiáris Consortia, 13. 41 1 Jn 4:9. 42 Jn 6:57. 45 Of course, man and woman are equal in nature, which is not true about the divine and human nature. Still the relation of active to receptive is an apt sign of the relationship between the divine and human in Christ.
